Pretty Guardians
by IchigoUsagiHibiki
Summary: AU Venus comes looking for the Moon princess and her other guardians, not too happy to leave her planet behind. The girls she finds will not remember her, for they will be different people.
1. Prologue

**AN, so this idea has been stuck in my head for quite a while. This is an AU Sailor Moon fic, with elements from the live action series the anime, the manga, as well as the parallel sailor moon, being I may want to use both kousagi and chibiusa if I am going that far. I am also going to use the Codename Sailor V. among stuff that came from my own imagination. Also I don't own Sailor Moon in any way.**

prologue

Okay so before we get up into the story let me tell you my name, Sailor Venus, well that's only one of my names, in truth I am the Princess of Venus, Venus and Sailor Venus is my Soldier name. Yes I come from Venus, born and raised there, and trained there before I was sent to the moon to act as a special guard for the moon princess. You see the Moon Kingdom was the head kingdom out of all of the other kingdoms, well technically they were queendoms, but you get the point.

There were four of us in all to guard the princess; you see outside the kingdom there were threats to our peace so there had to be guardians to protect it. There were four girls to guard the Princess, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus, the Inner Guardians, Venus being the leader, hehe that's me!

There were three outer guardians, they were stronger then the inner ones, they protected from far away on their planets. They were Uranus, Neptune and Pluto; I don't know how they could stand it. There was also one more, they strongest of us all, Saturn, but she would not awaken unless the kingdom was falling, in which it did.

We called this time the Silver Millennium, aptly named if you ask me, but an enemy came from somewhere we did not expect it and at a time we did not either. It came from earth, the place where our Princess found love, with the Earth Prince no less. An evil woman who had loved the prince but he could not love her back. We fought Beryl who had teamed up with an old Enemy Metallia, for years and towards the end Queen Serenity sent me home to Venus, because something was brewing and at the time I was the only one who could solve it, and even though I did not want to leave my friends, it was an order that I had to follow.

Maybe she knew what was coming, I will never know but as soon as I arrived on Venus, Beryl and Metallia struck, destroying several planets, making them devoid of life, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and the moon as well as several smaller planets. Somehow, and I am not sure how but Venus survived, we took damage yes and it took years to recuperate, but we survived. We don't even know how we survived the death of Saturn's Glaive, a mystery, to be sure. Three other planets survived that day as well, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto also taking heavy damage. Saturn never had any life on it except the sleeping Sailor Saturn, but she died with the others and was reborn in the future on Earth. I have no idea as to what happened to the other outer guardians, for they are not on their planets, maybe they went to Earth, who knows.

It took hundreds of years to fix the damage that the war wrought, and even to this day we are still trying to recuperate.

When a little sleeping cat arrived at the Magellan castle, everything changed. I was told that the Sailor Soldiers had been reborn on Earth and that Metallia was once again awakening, I had to go to Earth and though I did not like it, it had to be done. The new Soldiers would need a leader and that would be me. Also the Moon Princess was on Earth and I would need to find her to destroy Beryl and Metallia forever.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 01**

"Artemis, why in Aphrodite's name did it have to be earth?!" Venus tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and adjusted her big red bow.

"Well, Venus this is where Queen Serenity said they would be reborn just before she put me to sleep. " She looked to her friend and guardian, Artemis, a little white cat at the moment with a crescent moon on his forehead.

"But why Earth?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask her yourself?" He bit back and she glares back with her blue eyes.

"You know I can't, she is dead, remember! For at least a thousand years!" She shook her head, he gives Venus a look.

"Venus, this is also where the Dark Kingdom is awakening, and if you want to keep your planet, Venus out of their grasp we have to fight them here, with the help of the other Pretty Guardians that have been reborn here, on Earth."

"I know, does not mean I like it." As Artemis goes to say something else, Venus hears a noise behind her.

"Got you little girl!" Something went to grab her from behind, but since she knew it was there she ducked as soon as its arms would have gone around her.

"Like they say the early worm gets the bird!"

"V. Isn't the early Bird gets the worm?" Venus shrugs her shoulders and turns around to face the Youma.

"Well really. You sent a low level Youma, man I feel insulted!"

"Now it's my turn to feel insulted!" The thing lunged at her.

"Venus Love-Me Chain!" The hearts whip hit the youma square on, turning it to dust.

"V. I think it might be best to not stay in Guardian form?" She looks down at her orange Fuku.

"Maybe your right." Venus lets go of her transformation, her uniform becoming the dress that she always wore back on Venus, a long yellow dress with tulle over layer in a pale almost white yellow with a spaghetti strap top with bows attached and ribbon coming down from them, her hair bow changed into a yellow one with a red center. A yellow choker replaced the orange one from her uniform.

"Um, Artemis?" He turned from where he had been looking, to look at her.

"I don't think I will blend in very well." Venus had seen some of the people passing by as they ended up in the park.

"No I don't think you do." He suddenly darted off, with a seemingly evil grin on his face.

"Minako! We have been so worried!" Venus turned around to find an older blonde woman her hair in a low ponytail coming towards her, a smile on her face and tears in her blue eyes. She looked a lot like Venus, freaky to say the least. She grabbed her in a hug and started to stroke her hair. After a few minutes went by, Venus not wanting to hurt her because she was a human, a man on a mission stepped into the small clearing.

"Amaya, where did you go love." He then took notice of them and joined in for the hug. They then broke apart and the woman smacked Venus on the head, hard.

"You don't ever do that again young lady! Not telling us where you went you were gone the whole night! I thought you were Dead!"

"Dear don't be so hard on her." He tried to placate the woman.

"Jun, Shut up! Minako don't listen to your father unless you want to be like him, you tell me when you are not going to be home!" Venus had had enough.

"Let's get one thing straight, I am sorry to inform you that I am not your daughter! Second my name is not Minako, it never was, and don't ever smack me on the head again!" Jun starts to chuckle and both of them turn to glare at him and he shuts up.

"Minako, you are in a lot of trouble, don't you go thinking that I won't recognize my own daughter? I gave birth to you! Just because you changed you look," She pointed at the dress, "Does not give you, a 14 year old girl permission to talk to your mother that way!" Venus looked at her and cursed the fact that she still looked this young. The woman then grabs Venus's ear, and as hard as she try to get away, she can't. Plus she didn't want to transform in front of her, that would scared her to death and as mad at her as Venus was, she is only human and not a Dark Kingdom one at that.

Somehow being the warrior that she was, Amaya manages to shove Venus into the car, her husband Jun starts the engine. After a few minutes he pulls in front of a cute little house, she drags Venus out of the car by her ear and into the house.

"You go to your room!" She somehow managed to find a spatula out of nowhere and start to swat at Venus, to get away she went to go up the stairs and that seemed like the right decision being she does not follow her. Artemis is waiting at the top of the stairs and Venus gladly follows him to one of the rooms. It's quite cute, for a little girl.

"Artemis, what did you do?!" He opens the closet.

"I will explain when you get something more appropriate for this world on." She looked in the closet and pulled out a button up long sleeve white shirt and a cute red skirt with straps, somewhat like suspenders but not.

"Artemis, you pervert!" He turns away as she gets dressed and she then hangs the dress up into the closet.

"Well start talking, you cat!" He turns around as Venus sit on the orange comforter.

"Well I know that you wouldn't fit into this world very well, so I did some manipulation and she was the first person that walked by that could pass as your mother. In this world you look like a little girl, it's not like Venus or any other planet where you don't look your age. So I did the logical thing and made her and her husband think that they had a daughter, I even arrived before them to set up the room."

"Did you choose the name!?" Venus grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

"No, V I did not, that is just the name that had they had a daughter of their own they would have named her that." She gave the cat one last look and set him down.

"I hate this room."

"Well Venus, now that it is yours you have full permission to change it, but you cannot put weapons on the wall." He gave her a stern look and backed up a little. Venus rolled her eyes. The door bursts open as Artemis darts under the bed.

"Minako, you better be ready for school tomorrow!" Amaya's hands are on her hips with a spatula in one hand. All Venus can do is nod, not wanting to get the back end of the spatula. Pleased she closes the door and both Venus and Artemis hear her footsteps walk away.

"Artemis, why do I have to go to school, I graduated years ago!"

**AN: Hey I really have no excuse for not updating any of my stories, but shear laziness, but I never did promise to update them once a week. I am doing NaNoWriMo with an original story, so that's what I am going to use. :D**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 02**

"Usagi!" A pink-haired woman with a spatula in her hand stands at the bottom of the stairs, hoping that her daughter will get up. "You're going to be late for school, and don't make your cousin wait!" Ikuko yells. The pink haired lady proceeds to the kitchen, where Venus is waiting.

"Sorry, Minako-chan. This is the first time you and Usagi are going to the same school; I don't know what your mother was thinking." She giggles and shakes her head.

Venus responds with a small smile, not liking this one bit.

"Ahh!" Footsteps pound down the stairs, and a panicked, pigtailed blonde, wearing a white school uniform with a big red bow on the front of the blue collar, runs past the kitchen. "Mom! Why didn't you wake me!?"

"I did, Usagi, many times." Ikuko calmly begins to wash the dishes. "Usagi, aren't you forgetting something?" she asks. The blonde rushes back to the kitchen.

"Mom, what am I forgetting?" Ikuko holds out her daughter's lunch.

"Oh." Usagi meekly retrieves it and, in the process, suddenly notices a blonde girl with a red ribbon in her hair. The girl wears the same uniform as Usagi, but Usagi doesn't recognize her from school.

"Mom? Who's this?"

"It's your cousin, Minako. Don't tell me you don't remember her?"

Usagi shakes her head.

_Why didn't Artemis' spell work on her? It worked just fine on her brother…?_Venus thinks, confused by the blonde's resistance to Artemis' magic.

Ikuko rolls her eyes at her daughter.

"Well, take her with you. As of today, she's going to the same school as you. You two had better hurry up, or you'll be late for school!" Suddenly, Ikuko wields a spatula in her hand accompanied by a very menacing expression on her face, and Usagi runs out of the kitchen with Venus in tow. Both girls hastily put their shoes on, grab their school bags, and head out the door.

"Mina, hurry!" Usagi takes off running, and, rolling her eyes, Venus follows.

_As far as I know, I don't have a cousin. Where did this girl come from, and what does she want?_Usagi thinks, turning her head slightly.

"Usagi, watch—"

Usagi collides with something. Something big.

"Out..." Venus cringes. The person Usagi had collided with helps the pigtailed blond to her feet, and Venus moves to assist him.

"You should really look where you're going..." He looks at the girl he had run into, noting her hairstyle. "Odango Atama," he finishes, chuckling to himself.

At a loss for words, Usagi turns bright red and then runs off. Before Venus follows her, she turns to the tall boy.

"Sorry for my cousin." Venus bows and runs after Usagi before she lost her. The tall, dark haired boy watches the two blondesdisappear around the corner, a small smile playing on his face. He walks away, shaking his head.

* * *

"Usagi! You made it!" The brunette with a slightly red tint to her hair has a look of shock on her face as Usagi takes her seat next to her.

"Naru! I'm just glad I was able to show my," Usagi brings her hands up to form quotation marks with her fingers "'Cousin' to the office." Usagi rolls her eyes. Naru stares at Usagi, perplexed.

"Usagi, you don't have a cousin." She gives the blonde a pointed look.

"I know that already, but my mom seems to think I do!" the blonde exclaims. Everybody in the room glances at the blonde. A blue haired girl looks up from her book and approaches the other girls.

"Ami-chan!" Usagi jumps up from her chair to give her friend a hug, and the blue haired girl offers a smile. Ami still doesn't quite understand how she'd become friends with such an outgoing girl, as she herself was shy. Whereas Usagi and Naru had been friends prior to kindergarten, Ami had only joined the group about a year ago, when she transferred from her old school; ever since, the three had become best friends.

"Usagi, Naru, did you get your summer homework done?" asks Ami. Both girls hang their heads, the mysterious cousin completely forgotten.

"I just have this last paper, and I'm going to write it at lunch," Naru admitts. Ami then looks to the blonde.

"We even got together to study this Summer! How did you not get your homework finished, Usagi?" Ami asks. She gives the blonde a stern look, though the corners of her lips curl up in a smile.

"Ami-chan, I tried!"

Unbeknownst to the group, the teacher had entered the room. Usagi's exclamation drew everyone's attention—including the teacher's.

"Miss Mizuno, please go back to your seat! And you, Miss Osaka and Miss Tsukino, please do not distract the other students—especially you, Tsuskino." Miss Haruna turns to the door. "You may come in now, Miss Aino."

Venus walks into the room.

"Would you please introduce yourself?"

Venus writes her name on the chalkboard, remembering to write her earth name, with family name first, instead of her real name. She turns back to the student body and notices that the cousin girl was in her class.

"Hi! My name is Aino Minako. I love sports!" She smiles and then looks at the teacher. "Where do I sit?"

"You will sit right behind Miss Mizuno." Ms. Haruna points to the spot behind the blue haired girl; Ami gives her a shy smile and a wave.

_Do I know her?_Venus thinks, spacing out a little as she goes to her seat.

"Alright, girls and boys, let's start class!" Miss Haruna puts on a fake smile. "And please turn in your summer homework to me at the end of class."

* * *

"So, you're Usa's cousin?" Three sets of eyes look at her; two very intense ones, the third conveying an apology for the other two.

"Man, Usagi, she looks just like you!" A boy with a spiral pair of glasses popps up behind Usagi, scaring her half to death.

"Umino! I have told you _never_ to do that!" The pigtailed blonde turns and smacks the boy on the head.

"Ow..." He rubbs the spot on his head. Boy, does he have a crush on her, even as violently as she has always treated him. Usagi returned to eating her lunch and staring at the other blonde, while Umino creepily lurks at the edge of the group.

Venus looks in his direction and glares, scaring him off.

* * *

"So, Ami-chan, Naru, are you guys coming to my house?" Usagi asks, looking at the other two girls with a hopeful expression; she needs some friend-time after having just been lectured about not having her homework done.

"Usagi, I don't think that's a good idea, since you have to take that note home." Ami looks at her friend, really wanting to come over, but knowing that if she does, it would not be pleasant. "I also have to get to cram school, so I will see you guys later." She smiles and waves as she walks away.

"Hey, let's go to the arcade, Usagi! Maybe the cute guy is working today!" Naru grabs Usagi's hand and pulls her along. Venus rolls her eyes and follows; maybe the people she is looking for can be found at the arcade.

After a brief walk, the three girls arrive at the arcade.

"Hey, there is a new game! How come I've never heard of it before?" Usagi points to a poster with a blonde girl in a red and blue sailor suit and a red mask; her hair is in two high ponytails with a red bow in each.

"Sailor V? I don't think anyone has heard of it before." Naru looks to Usagi.

Upon seeing the game, Venus begins to freak out and starts to look around, searching for anything suspicious. What she fins is Artemis with his paws to his lips; she nods her head, and follows the other two inside.

Venus will have to talk to Artemis about it later.

* * *

"Hino-san, did you hear the news?"

"Oiy, Hino-san, are you even listening?" Two girls are talking up a storm, not really caring if the third joins in; they only included the dark haired girl to appease their parents, and the only reason that Hino Rei is with them is because her grandfather wants her to make friends. So here she is, on her way to the arcade to meet up with some boys from the girls' sister school for a date.

"Hey, Miki-chan, have you heard of Sailor V?" asks the girl with long blue hair tied in two braids.

"No, Hana—but she looks so cool!" Hana pushes her glasses up on her nose and moves a light brown lock behind her ear.

Rei looks at the poster the two girls are ogling and feels something strange from it. Not a bad feeling; just strange.

"Hino-san, you're spacing out." Miki places her hands on her hips; Hana pushes up her glasses again. They both then turn and walk into the Crown Arcade, not really caring if Rei follows them or not.

"I hate those girls. If only Grandpa would get off my case about friends, I would not be in this situation!" Rei mutters under her breath as she follows the other two girls into the building.

"Katsuwada-san, why are we meeting the boys at the arcade? It's not really a place one would find you or Asada-san," she says with sickly sweetness to the blue haired girl and points to the two girls.

"Because this is the only place they would agree to meet us."

Rei rolls her eyes and looks around the arcade, and she notices that they are not the only girls in here. Two blondes and a reddish-brunette surround one of the games, but what really catches her attention is the blonde with a red hair ribbon; Rei feels the same feeling that she had felt with the poster at the front window.

"So, you're the infamous Hino-san that everyone's been talking about!"

* * *

"I am soooo dead!" Usagi collapses on her knees before the gate to her house. Naru had already said her goodbyes and headed home, and now it was just Venus and Usagi.

"Well cous, I better be headed home as well. See you at school tomorrow!" Before Venus can make her escape, Usagi grabbs her hand.

"She'll be lenient if you're with me!" A smile fixes itself to the pigtailed blonde's face as she gets up and drags her supposed cousin through the gate and to the front door.

Even though she really wantsto ditch the blonde, this is her cover, and she has no evil thought towards the girl; in fact, she feels protective of her. So Venus lets herself be dragged.

"MOM, I'm home!" Two women, who look suspiciously like each other except for the fact that one was blonde and the other had pink hair, round the corner from the kitchen.

"Oh, good, Minako-chan is with you. I was worried that she would go home to find no one there!" The blonde one says.

"Antie Amaya!" Usagi promptly lets go of Venus' hand and tackles the blonde, who looks a lot like Venus. She then realizes that she still has her shoes on, and lets go to take them off.

"Why don't you two go upstairs to Usagi's room and do your homework while you wait for dinner?" Both the mothers laugh at the dejected looks of the blonde in pigtails and the one in a red ribbon.

Venus is really not looking forward to the homework. She had already done a lot of this stuff already; in fact, she has done stuff that these primitive people would not understand, and as she already had to suffer being at school, she had decided that she would not do a lick of homework. She knows Artemis will be mad, but she has to continue her training as well as fight as many Youma as she can possibly find; she has no time for homework of this nature. She will, of course, study, but it will be in something that is relevant and not redundant.

For Usagi… she just hates to do homework, so she loves to forget about it.

Usagi makes her way dejectedly up the stairs. Venus followed behind, dreading this monotonous task ahead of her, but at the same time looking forward to it for some reason. Maybe it was because she enjoys the company of this little blonde. So she is not going to skip the homework tonight because she feels the need to be a good example to this simple girl, and decided to help the girl out with her homework.

Once at the top, Usagi shows Venus her room, and then promptly sits on the bed and opens one of the manga she had sitting there.

"Usagi, that's not homework." Usagi looks up at Venus who is still standing in the door.

"I know, but I don't want to do it!" She makes a puppy dog face. Venus rolls her eyes and sits on the bed next to Usagi. She gently extractsthe manga from her hands and scoops up the stack next to the bed.

"Usagi, please open up your math book." She gets up from the bed, giving the other blonde a great big glare, and opens her school bag, pulling out her math homework. Venus, still holding the manga, grabs the low table in the corner and drags it out to the center of the room.

"Mina-chan, you're mean!" Usagi pouts as she sets her homework on the table and starts to look over it. Venus places the manga in a corner of the room and takes out her homework. Venus sits at the table with Usagi, helping her when needed.

"Usagi! Minako! Time for dinner!"

* * *

"Okay, Artemis, you better explain why I am on that poster, wearing a variation of the sailor uniform that I have never worn, with my hair done in the Moon Royal fashion!"

After dinner was done and Venus and her supposed parents had made their way back to their home, Venus escaped to her room. She then waited till her 'parents' had fallen asleep and snuck out the window to a nearby wooded park. That is where Artemis found her.

Unnoticed to either of them, they have an eavesdropper.

"V-chan, this world is not yet ready to accept Sailor Venus. So, I created one that was not as strong and very similar in looks to the Moon princess, to fake the Dark Kingdom out, because they will be looking for the Princess as well. And, since you are a fully trained warrior and she isn't, you must play the part of princess. They are not yet ready for a full scale invasion, so you need to conserve your energy. That is why I have created that transformation; it is a lot weaker than your normal transformation, but it will cause a lot less commotion, while still protecting the Princess." He looks very pleases with himself. "Here, take this compact. This is your new transformation device; you will need to keep it open at night in your window to charge by moonlight, otherwise you will not be able to transform, or if you _can_ still transform, you will be unable to use any of the attacks."

Venus shakes her head. "I still don't like the fact that I will have the hair style of the Moon Royalty."

"It's not, exactly; there are no buns. And if you have so much trouble with it, why have you not tried to make that 'cousin' of yours change her hair style?"

Venus rolls her eyes. "Because it is disrespectful for me, but for a girl who does not know any better, it's perfectly fine." She rolls her eyes again. She then started to use the object.

"Venus, no!" Artemis jumps on her shoulder.

"Why not?" She pouts at the little Mau.

"Because it needs to be charged! Let's go back."

"Fine." Venus makes her way back home, climbs the tree, and climbs back in through the window that she had snuck out of. She sets the little compact on the windowsill and grabs her sleepwear.

"Artemis, you better not watch!" She hisses, and when she is confident that he is not looking, she changes.

"Goodnight, Artemis." She sleepily turns out the light and climbs into bed.

* * *

"That was strange. Very strange."

**AN: So I really want to thank my Beta Reader for making this presentable for the rest of you. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, but I am sorry there is no action, I am hoping to put more action in the next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 3

**AN: Thank you again to my lovely Beta Reader, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! I don't own sailor moon.  
**

**Chapter 03**

_So, currently they are masquerading as the Dark Agency? I wonder how I-_

"Aino-San!"

Usagi turns around to look at her cousin, just as everyone else in the room had, and is grateful that it was not her who had been called; she was not paying attention, either.

"Sorry, Haruna-Sensei. I was thinking of a problem." Venus stands up and looks at the teacher truthfully.

"And, pray tell, what problem was more important than this class?" Haruna gave the blonde a very stern look, reminding Venus of her old teacher back on Venus, thousands of years ago.

"I was wondering how I could get rid of the Dark agency-well, actually, how _Sailor V_ could." She could not put her finger on why she told the truth, but she is glad she had amended her statement; even if it would get her in trouble with the teacher, she didn't want her identity found out, because then the Dark Kingdom would not leave her in peace, and it would put everyone she had come in contact with in danger.

"So you were thinking of a video game?" Haruna was in the up and up when it came to video games; as a teacher, she had to be. Venus did not like where this was going, because it was not the video game-it was real life for her. But she could not tell Haruna that.

"Yes, Haruna-sensei." Haruna looks at her student sadly.

"Aino-san, please go stand in the hall. Mizuno-san, please continue where Osaka-san left off." In all honesty, Venus is happy to go. She can think of ways to defeat the Dark Kingdom, as well as look for the princess and other guardians; even Luna would be a good start. But to keep the teacher from suspecting that she prefers this to staying in the classroom, she hangs her head as she walks out.

_Dark kingdom, Dark Agency… I need to bring them down. How do I infiltrate the Agency? Do they hold auditions? Maybe I could get in that way? Maybe I should be focusing on looking for the other guardians more? Oh, my brain hurts. I'll make Artemis do the thinking next time._Venus shakes her head.

* * *

"Hino-san? Would you like to join us for lunch?" Miki and Hana are in front of Rei's desk.

"No." She gets up from her seat, tosses her long hair behind her, walks out of the classroom, and climbs the stairs to the roof, lunch in hand. She does not care that she had been rude; she wants to be alone to think of the weird girl and the talking cat.

_Did the cat really talk, or was it some ventriloquist's act the girl had been practicing? But, what of transforming? The cat did call her V-chan; maybe she's that Sailor V who is hanging around. He also said the world was not ready for Sailor Venus. Who is she?_She shakes her head.

All too soon, the lunch bell sounds, signaling the end of lunch. She stands up, dusts off her brown school skirt, grabs her empty container, and heads back to the classroom.

oooOOO000OOOooo

"Mina-chan, you are Usagi's cousin!" Naru giggles into her hand. She then proceeds to grab her lunch and a magazine as she follows Ami, Usagi and Venus out of the classroom. They move to the roof, all with lunch in hand (and, in Ami's case, a book as well.)

"I have to agree on this one. Usagi, you may not remember having a cousin, but you are quite forgetful when it comes to most things. Plus, she looks very much like you. You two could play a switch quite easily." Ami sets her book down and sits in one of the chairs around the table they had brought to the roof earlier that year.

"Usagi, maybe the reason you don't remember me is because I spent quite a few years in London, in an international program. During that time, I really didn't keep in contact with friends or family. The ones I most kept in contact with were my parents; if I didn't, Mom would have worried, and as soon as I got back, she would have murdered me." Artemis had come up with the story because, for some reason, Artemis's magic was not working on Usagi. Both he and Venus had found it odd. About a week had passed since Artemis had come up with her new transformation, and Usagi had confronted her about the whole cousin thing. Venus wonders why it has to be this hard.

"Oh, yeah, you told me that the other day. Sorry I didn't tell you two sooner. I'm just that forgetful!" Usagi happily digs into her food. Ami opens her lunch box and pulls out half of her sandwich, props open her book, and starts to read. Naru also opens her lunch and starts to eat it, while pulling out a magazine that she had brought with her.

Venus looks at the three girls, a smile on her face. In the short time that she had known these three girls, she had become very attached to them. She findsd it strange, seeing as how she hides things from them on a daily basis; but that could not be helped. She did not want to put these three innocents in danger just because they knew her secret. That was why she had not told them.

"Eh, Minako? If you're not going to eat that, I will gladly eat it for you!"

Venus started laughing."No, Usagi, I'm going to eat it!" She starts to eat her own food with vigor. Usagi pouts, then quickly turns to Naru.

"Whatcha looking at?" Usagi manages to snag the magazine from the green-eyed girl's hand, and she then runs for the other side of the roof, her blue eyes sparkling.

Being with these three, Venus's inner child comes out; she launches herself at Usagi, her own blue eyes sparkling mischievously, and snags the magazine out of the other blonde's hands. Immediately, both blondes start to play keep away from Naru.

"Come on, you two, give it back!" Naru is having just as much fun as the two blondes.

Suddenly, all three stop their game and form a circle to plan a very mischievous thing. They approach the blue haired girl, forming a circle around her. Ami, having already figured out what they were about to do, looks at Venus.

Blue meet blue, and they form a silent plan. After a few moments, Venus lunges at Usagi, while Ami turns around and grabs Naru, trapping both Usagi and Naru mid-book-snatching attempt.

"Minako, I thought you were on our side!" Naru cannot help but laugh at the change of events; normally, both Naru and Usagi would try to grab the book from Ami's hands, and as there were two of them and one of her, they would eventually get it; but they had not counted on the new girl siding with Ami.

"Yeah, you're my cousin! You should have sided with us! Traitor!" At this moment, all of them are on the ground, laughing so hard they can hardly breathe.

Venus almost cannot remember the last time she had laughed like this. The last time was when she had been with Princess Serenity, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and one other guardian. Venus could not remember her name, though she knew it was not one of the Outers; in fact, during a game of snag the book from Mercury, they had all ended up on the ground just like this. Shortly thereafter, Queen Serenity had found the girls all over the floor in hysterics; she started to giggle as well, but quickly pulled herself together as she gave the girls a look. They managed to stand up, but could not stifle their giggles.

The lunch bells sounds.

"Oh, um, we should probably get back." Naru looks at the other girls, trying to hold back her laughter. She picks herself up and helps the rest of them to their feet, and they could not stifle their giggles.

* * *

"Sorry, girls, I won't be going to the arcade today." Usagi looks to the other three girls.

"That's okay. Mina and I will go play that Sailor V game!" Naru receives a glare from the blonde.

"Man, why do I have to be grounded?!" The other three girls roll their eyes and try to hide smiles.

"Usagi, had you finished your summer homework, you would not have had to bring that note to your parents, and you would not have been grounded." Ami gives Usagi a very teacher-like look.

"Ami-chan, you didn't have to say that!" Usagi sticks her bottom lip out, and tears appear in her eyes.

"Well, you better get home before your mother pulls the spatula trick." Venus shivers unconsciously, remembering how both the woman she was staying with and Usagi's mother used the same trick. Usagi nods her head.

"Bye, guys." Usagi heads for the direction of her home with her head down.

"Bye, you two. Stay out of trouble." Ami leaves the blonde and brunette to go to cram school. Both remaining girls wave at the disappearing blonde and the disappearing Ami.  
"Come on, Mina, I want to try to beat your high score on that Sailor V game!" She grabs Venus's hand and drags Venus along to the Crown without any resistance.

"Not a chance, Naru!" Venus giggles. As Naru makes a beeline to the game, Venus goes up to the counter of the Fruits Parlor Crown that was above the arcade and orders two milkshakes; one strawberry, the other chocolate.

"So, no Usagi again, today?" the boy behind the counter asks.

"Nope, she is still grounded." A smile plays upon Venus' lips.

"Well I hope she's un-grounded soon." Venus grabs the two milkshakes that the boy puts on the counter.

"Motoki-san, so do I." She then moves from the counter and heads back down the stairs to where Naru is playing the game. When Naru has finished the game, she spots the blonde holding two milkshakes and gladly takes the chocolate off her hands, guiltily taking a giant gulp.

"Thanks, Minako-chan! This is exactly what I needed!" Naru puts one arm around the blonde in a hug while trying not to spill her drink.

"May I intrude?" Neither friend heard the girl lightly step behind them; Venus turns around, wishing she had been paying more attention. Naru turns as well, though not as quickly.

The girl who spoke had long black hair and violet eyes. In that moment, Venus' blue eyes meet Rei's violet ones, and she experiences a feeling of déjà vu.

_Venus turns around to find that Mars had snuck up behind her as she waited for someone; she turns around and their eyes meet. They both hear a door open and they turn to the Princess, who had escaped the castle again._

"Minako-chan are you okay?" Naru somehow manages to get in between Venus and Rei, while both of them spaced out. "Miss, I don't know your name, but are you okay?" Both girls come out of their trance and shake their heads.

"Yeah, Naru-chan, I'm fine." The blonde smiles at the brunette and adjusts the green bow Naru has in her hair.

"I'm fine as well." Rei looks at Venus.

"Oh, dear, I didn't realize how late it was. I better get home! Bye, Mina-chan, and it was nice to meet you…"

"Rei. Hino Rei."

"Well, it was really nice to meet you, Hino-san. I hope we can become friends, but I have to go, sorry to seem rude." Naru hands Venus the milkshake glass and hurries out the door; Venus waves goodbye.

"You need to explain some things to me,_Venus_."

Venus turns to her and glares."Who are you exactly?"

Rei rolls her eyes."I am exactly who I stated, but you, on the other hand, are not at all who you say that you are." Venus starts to head for the stairs, but Rei grabs her sleeve, keeping her in place. "Where are you going?

"I'm just going to return these to Motoki-san." Venus holds up the glasses. "Then we can go somewhere a little more_private_to discuss things, if we must." Rei lets go of the sleeve and follows the girl up the stairs, not wanting to lose her.

"Ah, Minako-chan, Back so soon?" Venus sets the glasses on the counter as she sits on one of the stools.

"Naru had to get home." Rei sits next to Venus, looking at the blonde girl and knowing that this place was not all that private.

"Ah, and who is this?" He grabs the glasses and nods toward Rei.

"I'm Rei, Hino Rei." Rei gives him a polite nod.

"It's nice to meet you, Rei-chan. Are you friends with Minako-chan?"

"I don't know yet, I only just met her." She looks to Venus.

"Well she's a good girl; actually, the four of them are good girls." Rei is confused, because she only remembers two girls being around the blonde.

"Yeah, neither Usagi-chan nor Ami-chan is here today, and for Ami-chan, it's usually very rare." He smiles as Rei nods her head.

"Well, I should probably get going." Venus picks herself off of the stool and glances at Rei. "Are you coming?" Rei nods. Both girls wave as they make their way downstairs and out the door.

"So, where are we headed?" Rei looks at the blonde, wondering where she is headed.

"To a park; it's just a little ways away."

"A park is not very private." Rei rolls her eyes at the blonde. Venus stops in her tracks and faces the dark haired girl.

"Do you know a better place?"

Rei folds her arms in front of her. "In fact, I do. I live with my Grandfather at Hikawa Shrine, and it's very private." Rei does not know why she is leading this strange girl to her home other than the fact that it was more private.

After a good, long walk they arrive at a long set of stairs.

"Whoa, this reminds me of the Phobos and Deimos castle on Mars!" Venus looks at the stairs, remembering the training that the Mars instructor had given all the guardians. Venus then shifts her head to look at the other girl. "I had my suspicions back at the arcade, but I think my suspicions just got confirmed!"

"Um, I-oh, come on!" This girl was really confusing Rei. They both climb up the stairs, neither having trouble with the ascent; Rei then leads Venus to a little-used room.

"Hold on, I really should have contacted Artemis." Venus then pulls out a seemingly normal pink and orange pen.

"Artemis needs to make a better way to get a hold of him-it would look very strange for me to be seen talking into a pen!" She smiles at Rei as she presses a button on the side.

"Venus, this had better be important!" A very irritated male voice comes out of the pen.

"Sorry for disturbing your nap, Artemis, but yes, it is very important! I would like you to come to Hikawa Shrine."

"Is there an attack?" A very concerned cat jumps up from his perch on a tree outside of Venus' place of living.

"No, but I may have found a guardian. Not entirely sure, but pretty darn close." Rei stares at Venus, a whole new slew of questions in her mind.

"Venus, you better not having this conversation in front of her!" Now he was irritated and a little out of breath as he runs in the direction of the shrine.

"Don't worry, Artemis, I'm not." She clicks the same button she used to call, hanging up on him.

"So, that was the talking cat I saw the other day?" Venus scrunches up her face.

"How did you know he was a cat? Well, he's not technically a cat. He's from the planet Mau, and he is not just a cat; he has what you would call a human form. He just rarely uses it because it is really exhausting, being that he just woke up after a thousand year nap."

Rei tries to keep the look of shock and disbelief off of her face, but she's not doing a good job of it."Well, okay… I spied on you after noticing the Sailor V poster and you both giving off the same strange feeling; I kind of followed you. Then, later, after you went up the tree to your room- I'm not really proud of myself for stalking, but I just had to know-after I got home, I looked into the fire, but something was blocking me from seeing." Rei shrugs her shoulders, and Venus nods her head, a strange expression crossing her face.

A white ball of fur comes barreling into the room and right into Rei's lap, startling her as Venus just rolls her eyes and giggles.

* * *

Makoto steps off the bus, bag in hand, with just the necessities; toothbrush and toothpaste, a couple changes of clothes, and a few personal items. Not much. The rest of her stuff was already in her new place. She sits on one of the provided benches to wait for her next bus. She was told that flying would be faster, but there was no way that anyone was going to get her on plane. She arranges herself into a more comfortable position, bringing her bag closer, and then adjusts the ponytail in her curly brown hair, thinking that maybe she should cut it off. Her green eyes start to drift closed, and her head flops onto her bag.

A loud whistle startles her to alertness as her bus pulls into the stop.

She gets up, stretches and falls into line to get on the bus; she checks her bag for the note, in case she gets stopped for not being in school, as well as her ticket. As she reaches the door, she passes her ticket to the driver; he hands it back. She then makes her way to a window seat, leans her bag against the window, and tries to sleep.

* * *

The cat looks at the dark haired girl from her lap; she does look like the Mars Guardian, but that does not prove anything.

"She already knows you can talk." Venus folds her arms in front of her. "She saw, that night after my first day of school." Artemis continues to stare at the girl after nodding at Venus, making Rei feel quite uncomfortable; he does feel something interesting with this girl, since he senses her physic abilities.

"She could be." He sits in front of both girls. "For now, we will do some training with your physic abilities. They will need to be trained, no matter if she is who you think she is Venus. Also, she will need hand to hand combat training; she may need some brushing up on long range combat, but I don't think she will need much. Archery, am I correct?" He turns to Rel.

"Yes, how did you know?" She looks confused, not that the talking cat does not confuse her enough.

"Your muscle tone and the calluses on your hands, among other things." A smile plays upon his lips; Rei didn't know cats could smile. It then dawns on her that the bow and quiver are in the corner of the room along with her other gear. "Would you be willing to go through guardian training? I can't guarantee that you are one, but the training is good. Your place would also be most suitable to train other guardians, when found; is it alright to use you place, even if you do not go through the training?" Rei looks stupefied; her home as a training ground for warriors? No way!

"I would like to do the training, but this place, my home, is a peaceful place. I would like to keep it as such. And even if I am not a guardian, I would like to know exactly what is going on. Everything." The Mau just nods.

"A very reasonable demand, but that will have to wait. For now, what I will tell you is that this place will continue to be a peaceful place. I never want to see this place as a war zone, hence why we train guardians. I never said warriors, though guardians may be warriors in their own rights; they only fight to protect." He then stood up. "I think it's time for Venus to get back to the house, for it is late, and Amaya will be getting worried. We will be back once Venus gets out of school. Please think on your decision, but no matter the decision, we will explain what we can."

Venus stands, picks up the cat, and places him on her shoulder.

"Hino-san, please call me Minako or Aino-San; it would be very bad if my secret was found out." Rei nods her head. Venus smiles and leaves out the door.

"Hello!" A cheery voice sounded behind Venus about twenty paces from the steps. She turns to see a little old man with balding hair in Priest garb. "I am really glad that my granddaughter has finally brought a friend home-I was getting a little worried. Oh, my, and you are beautiful, too! How about I take you on a date?" Venus smiles inside, remembering Mars's grandfather was just as caring and pervey as this little old man, but a scowl is on her face.

"Don't you think it is a little inappropriate for you to be asking me out?" The little man turns his head to the side and walks away. She just rolls her eyes and continues on her way.

"Artemis, I am quite sure that she is Mars. It just makes sense."

"Well, let's just hurry home; Amaya may already have the spatula ready." There was a hint of laughter in his voice, and Venus steps up the pace. Her mind is so preoccupied that she ran into something quite large, though she did have the wits about her to not land on her bottom.

"I'm quite sorry, are you alright?" Venus looks ups into beautiful chocolate brown eyes and her heart goes aflutter.

_This is not supposed to be happening; he is much too young for me! Why is my heart not listening to me?_

"Yes, I'm fine." A blush climbs up her cheeks.

"Well, I'm Higashi; I just transferred to Juuban Junior High, and before you ask why I said that, it's because you are wearing the girls' school uniform." He gives a friendly smile. "May I ask for your name?"

"Minako. Aino Minako." She barely squeaked out the name, remembering at the last minute not to say Venus.

"Well, I am on the boys' basketball team. Come cheer me on some time."

"That's cool; I was a thinking of joining…" She looks to the left trying, to remember which club she was invited to the other day. "The Volleyball team. I haven't decided, though." She looks down at her feet, the blush growing redder.

"Well, Minako-chan, that is spectacular. I look forward to seeing you there. Oh, and long hair is very ladylike, and the red bow is the perfect touch." He salutes her as he turns to leave. Venus just watches him as he walks away.

"Venus." Artemis puts a paw on her face. "Venus, snap out of it!"

"What were you saying, Artemis?" She groggily turns her head so that she can look at Artemis.

"I sense a Youma nearby-where did you leave your compact?" Venus snaps out of the mode she was in and nods her head.

"I have it right here in my bag; lead the way, kitty cat." She grabs the compact from her bag after the Mau jumps off of her shoulder and runs after him. They find the Youma at a cute little Jewelry Shop called Osa-P.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Venus looks around to see if anyone is watching and ducks into an ally.

"Crescent Moon Power, Transform!" She raises her arm into the air; the compact opens and, in a flash of orange and yellow light, she changes from her civilian identity to the infamous Sailor V.

"This make me feel uncomfortable." She tugs at the pigtails as she launches herself out of the alley, running smack dab into someone for the second time tonight.

"I really need to stop doing that!" She shakes her head and looks at who she ran into.

"Hello, my dear." It's a charming man in a Black Tuxedo with a white mask (similar to her own) on his face, and a top hat; Venus thinks he is cute, but she is glad that her heart does not start to race.

"Hi. Who might you be?" she asks, a little wary of this fellow.

"I'm Tuxedo Kamen!" He smiles and winks, then makes a beeline for the store. Venus can not help but laugh at his name; she then remembers why she's here and jumps into action.

"Hey, ugly!"

She definitely has the Youma's attention now. It's a rather portly thing, completely green, with a shock of brown something on his head, and the only article of clothing on this goblin-looking Youma is a dirty loincloth. It looks slimy, too.

"You are done with your theorizing the people in this place!"

Artemis puts his paw to his head._Terrorizing, Venus, not theorizing!_He still giggles despite himself.

She opens her compact and holds it out in front of her with her right hand; she steadies the aim with her left.

"Crescent Beam!" A beam of light shoots out of the compact, hitting the thing square on, dissolving it into dust. Venus then looks around for the man in the mask, or any other Youma hiding in the corner.

She doesn't find a Youma, but she does find the masked man stealing from the Osakas, and she begins to get angry. No, not angry-_furious_!

"How dare you!" The man looks up from what he's doing and notices the blonde.

Footsteps are heard from upstairs. It was a wonder none of the family had come down yet; maybe that was a good thing.

"Well, I better be going!" He smiles, winks, tips his hat, and maneuvers to get around Venus.

"It's Sailor V!" Two sets of girls' voices are heard. Venus looks in that direction to make sure they are alright before taking off after Tuxedo Kamen. She follows him for a short while before she loses him. Venus kicks a trashcan in frustration.

"Ow!" she grumbles.

"Venus!" She turns to find the owner of the voice.

"Artemis!" She scoops the cat up. "I lost the Masked Man, Artemis!" She lets out a sound of frustration.

"Nothing you could do about it. By the way, the mother and her two daughters are alright. You'd best be getting home, V." She dashes into the most convenient ally and lets go of the transformation.

"Oh, man, I need to go get my school bag!" Artemis rolls his eyes as he follows the blonde to fetch her bag. Once she has it in her hands, she runs home, very conscious of the fact that she is _very_ late, and that she may just get the spatula treatment tonight.

She comes up to the door and slowly eases it open, leaves her shoes in the doorway, and slips on the orange slippers that are hers before trying to sneak up the stairs. But there's something blocking her way.

"Aino Minako! You, young lady, are in _big trouble_!" She has the spatula in her hand.

"Sorry, I was at a friend's house and I didn't watch the time!" She puts her hands up to shield her head; she hates this part of the day, but this is the best cover, so she has to deal with it.

"Really? I called Ami-chan's, Naru-chan's, and Usagi's mothers-you were at none of their houses, and you want to tell me you were at a friend's house?"

"But, Mommy! I was at a new friend's house-Hino Rei is her name, I don't know the phone number, but honest, I was at her house!" Venus lays it on thick, a bit of a whine in her voice and tears in her eyes.

Amaya has a softer facial expression on her face."Minako, I would like you to call next time. I was worried. Now go to your room." Venus dashes up the stairs and into her room; Artemis is waiting on her bed.

"Does Amaya know that I have a cat?" Artemis just nods. Amaya knocks on her door.

"Minako, I kept your dinner warm."

"Thank you."


End file.
